The Takato Files - "Mirror Mirror"
by Maniacal Matt
Summary: Takato, a supposedly normal boy winds up running around town and in different universes with his friends, looking for his evil and annoying twin from an alternate universe. Please read and review! Rated PG13 for occassional usage of the f-word...
1. Goodbye, Hello...err, Hello, Goodbye

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THE TAKATO FILES:

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"Mirror Mirror"

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By:

Maniacal Matt

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, or any other show for that matter. No copyright infringement is intended. Any show/characters mentioned here is copyrighted by their respective owners, any celebrities mentioned here are...the celebrities' own properties. Any game shows/movies/books or other copyrighted catchphrases mentioned here are copyrighted by the show's respective owners.

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(A/N: This story takes place in the near future. Takato, Henry, Kazu, Kenta and the other kids are starting high school, while Suzie moves on to err...I don't even know how old she is. Anyways, they're in high school, so they have to put up with those itchy uniforms with the shirt and tie...)

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CHAPTER ONE:

Goodbye, Hello...err, Hello, Goodbye

"Dammit Kazu!" Kenta yelled angrily as he put the navy-blue jacket part of his uniform on. "You weren't at the museum yesterday. I stood and waited at the door for three and a half hours waiting for you, and you didn't show up!"

"C'mon Kenta, you know that isn't the truth! I was in the museum...I guess...we were just at different places. I was in the...uh, the...Ancient Egypt Exhibits. Where were you?" Kazu asked.

"That's funny, I happened to pass by there a couple of times while waiting." Kenta replied.

Kazu gave Kenta a friendly slap on the back. "Hey, c'mon buddy, you and I both know that I'm really serious about passing history this year!"

Kenta sighed and wiped his glasses. "Yeah right." He opened up his agenda and scribbled a few notes down and put in his backpack. "Listen, the assignment's due on Friday, and all we've taped so far is that footage of four security guards chasing you 'cause you tripped some damn alarm!"

Kazu took off his jacket and sat down. "We've got plenty of time until Friday rolls around! I mean, today's Monday isn't it?"

"Kazu, you idiot...it's Wednesday!" Kenta snapped. "Be at the museum tomorrow and don't be late! We have 1 day to film something that's worthy of at least a C-...plus, this is your only hope of passing history."

Kazu looked up at Kenta. "No it isn't! I've still got the end-of-the-year exam, don't I?"

"If you don't know half the things we learned in history, the exam won't do anything to bring up your mark!" Kenta hissed.

Kazu raised his right hand, grinned and snickered. "I solemnly swear that I will meet Kenta at the museum tomorrow so we can work on our history project." he tried to stifle his laughter as he said it, but as soon as he finished, he was rolling on the ground laughing.

"I swear Kazu," Kenta said to his friend, "you are the craziest person I know."

"I try my hardest to get on your nerves." Kazu replied, grinning, and slapped Kenta on the back again.

***

Takato Matsuda, a 13 year-old boy with light brown hair sat at a table in the far corner of the library. He rubbed his eyes and forced himself to read over the information in the books he took and take notes. He had 2 nights to finish his report on Ancient Egypt and he was only half-done.

"Jeez, I knew high school was hard, but I never thought it to be _this_ hard." Said Takato. He flipped through the pages of a book, looking for a picture of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Finally, he found a large enough picture of the Pyramid. He took out his sketchbook, but just as he was about to draw, the librarian's voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Attention, it is 4:55. The library will be closing in five minutes. If you plan on taking books out, please bring them to the front desk now." The librarian's voice echoed throughout the library.

"Aw man..." Takato muttered as he put away his paper and pencil. He took his library card out of his pocket and held it in one hand while he tried to carry six huge books in the other.

After much difficulty carrying six heavy books to the front desk, Takato presented his card to librarian.

The librarian took his card, scanned it, and began scanning each book. When she had finished, she stacked all the books up and handed Takato his card.

"These are due in two weeks." She said.

"Thank you." Takato groaned as he tried to lift the books. "I'll be glad when this Ancient Egypt report is over..." he muttered as he left the library.

Takato's house wasn't that far from the library. It was only 3 blocks away, which was a very short walk...but was agonizingly slow with six books in his arms. And because of the books, Takato couldn't really see where he was going, and the next thing he knew, he had bumped into another boy and the two of them were on the ground.

"Sorry about that." Takato said quickly as he began picking up his books.

"I should've been watching where I was going instead of reading. It's my fault, and I'm sorry." The other boy replied.

"Hey wait, I recognize your voice...Henry, is that you?" Takato asked.

"Takato?" Henry asked as well.

"Henry, it's you! I haven't seen you in a long time!" Takato said happily. He was glad he met his old friend once again.

"My family and I moved back to Japan after dad...uh, got in trouble back in Hong Kong." Henry said, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"I hope it was nothing serious." Takato said concernedly.

"No, no...I think he got into an argument with grandma and she, uh, kind of chased us all the way to the airport in a taxi."

"Wow...I kinda just got a mental picture of how it looked like."

"She was waving her cane in the air and yelling at the top of her lungs..." Henry sighed. "She caused quite a commotion at the airport."

Takato laughed quietly. "Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to poke fun at your family or anything..." He said quickly.

Henry smiled. "Nah, it's okay...it was pretty funny the way she yelled at the security guards and smacked one with her cane."

"That must've been funny." Takato replied.

"Here, let me help you with some of those books." Henry offered, grabbing 3 books.

"Thanks." Takato said as he picked up the remaining books.

"So, do you still live in the same house you lived in 3 years ago?" Henry asked, not sure which direction to go.

"Yep." Takato replied.

And with that, the two boys walked down the street to Takato's house.

***

The next morning, while walking to school together, Takato and Henry met up with Kazu and Kenta. They both exchanged greetings and proceeded to walk to school.

"Our project's going to be the best one in the class!" Kazu boasted.

"Yeah...right." Kenta muttered as he walked beside Kazu. "We added some new footage...of Kazu getting bitten by his neighbor's dog."

Takato, Henry and Kazu laughed while Kenta, hands in his pockets, stared at the sidewalk angrily, kicking a small pebble.

Kazu, noticing that the expression on Kenta's face was far from happy, slapped his friend on the back once more.

"Ow! Stop that!" Kenta yelled as he backed away from Kazu.

"C'mon buddy! I mean...cheer up! We'll get this project done and we'll get an A+ for sure!" Kazu said to Kenta, a wide smile on his face.

Kenta turned to face Kazu, his eyes a fiery red with anger. Kazu had never seen Kenta like this before. That was for sure.

"You mean _I'LL_ get this project done and _I'LL _get an A+!" Kenta fumed. "For _TWO _whole fucking weeks I've kept on encouraging you to get this project done, and you've always told me you'll do your part the next day, but you end up forgetting about it! _TWO WEEKS_!! We've had _TWO WEEKS_ to finish the project, but you haven't done a thing!!!!!"

"That's not true! I've been looking over several books, drawing some pictures, taking down some notes--" Kazu retorted.

"Pictures that are so badly drawn you can't tell if it's a fucking dead body or if it's the pharaoh's wife! Notes with so many spelling and grammatical errors, it's so different from the original text!" Kenta replied, sounding even more angry than before. "I'll finish the project myself! Go and slack off for all I care! I've tried to help you so you wouldn't fail, yet you don't do anything to help yourself!"

"Now you've just gone too far! More than half of what you just said are lies!" Kazu said, starting to get angry as well.

"No they're not! Unlike you, I don't lie that much!"

"You're lying right now!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

The two started pushing each other, which then escalated to shoving. The two then began throwing punches at each other, and soon, the two of them were on the ground, choking on another.

"You coast through life, make messes, and get people like me to clean up after you!" Kenta shouted as he punched Kazu in the face once more.

Meanwhile, Henry and Takato both tried to pry Kenta off of Kazu, but Kenta stayed put.

"Kenta! Not only are people giving us weird looks, but you're hurting one of your closest friends!" Henry yelled as he tugged on Kenta's arm.

"He's no longer a friend of mine! Stay out of this Mr. Philosophy!" Kenta replied.

What Kenta had just declared shocked Takato, Henry, Kazu...and Kenta himself.

"He isn't?" Takato asked, clearly surprised and shocked.

"No..." Kenta replied, "he isn't."

Kenta quickly got up, brushed the dust off his sleeve, straightened his tie and walked away.

"That was definitely _not _the Kenta I once knew." Henry said.

"Of course it isn't, you idiot!" Kazu yelled at Henry. "Kenta's turned into some selfish, power-hungry, a...rog...gint snob!"

Kazu got up as well and walked away.

"This...is not good." Henry muttered.

"You got that right. And wasn't that s'posed to be 'arrogant?'" Said Takato.


	2. Takato, Meet Takato

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THE TAKATO FILES:  
_"Mirror Mirror"_

CHAPTER TWO:  
Takato, Meet Takato

By the time lunchtime had rolled around, Kazu and Kenta still hadn't renewed their friendship. Kenta was still planning on finishing the project by himself, and Kazu, being the stubborn boy that he always was, still believed that Kenta was being stupid and arrogant.

"Y'know something Henry?" Takato asked his friend as the two of them walked to the cafeteria.

"What?" Henry replied.

"It's weird...Kazu and Kenta used to be so...er, inseperable. Now, they hate each other." Takato said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Mo-mentai." Henry said. "It's not your fault."

"I know it's not," Takato began, "but still though...just when I thought we were all reunited again, Kazu and Kenta end their friendship. I mean, Kazu's not going anywhere with us if Kenta's coming along and Kenta's not going anywhere if Kazu's coming."

Henry let out a sigh and stood in line with Takato standing behind him.

"So, what have you been up to?" Henry asked Takato, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, nothing much...just the, er, the ocassional history project...that's, uh, due tomorrow." Takato replied nervously. He had completely forgotten about the project. So far, all he had was a huge pile of notes, charts and drawings he had gathered over the past 2 weeks. Now, he had less than 24 hours to compile them all and turn it into something worthy of at least a B+.

"When's it due?" Henry asked.

"Uhh, tomorrow morning." Takato replied, starting to sweat.

"Need help?" Henry offered.

"Really? I could really use some...thanks Henry." Takato said.

"No problem. Mom and dad won't mind...they still have to go do some unpacking." Henry replied.

"Don't you have any unpacking to do?" Takato asked.

"I already finished yesterday." Henry replied, smiling.

"Oh...so, uh, how much do you know about Ancient Egypt?" Takato asked, smiling as well.

"Well, uh, last month, my family and I went to Egypt for a few weeks. And, uh...me and Suzie kinda got lost in a pyramid for a while...and then the batteries to my flashlight died...and, uh, they finally found us...six hours later." Henry said, looking slightly embarassed as he took a sandwich from the food tray on the counter.

Takato grabbed a sandwich as well. "Er, how did it feel like? Being stuck in someone's grave for six hours?"

"It was...different..." Henry replied, as he gave his payment to the cashier.

"Wow...you were actually in a pyramid and you actually got los--uh, sorry." Takato quickly stopped before he made Henry mad.

Henry sighed quietly and walked towards a table and sat down, and Takato followed him.

"Er...you don't mind if I asked for your entire personal account of what was it like being in the pyramid?" Takato asked hopefully.

"I'd prefer doing it after school...if it's alright with you, that is." Henry replied.

"Oh, uh, yeah...sure. Where should we go?" said Takato.

"The park?" Henry suggested.

"The park it is then." Takato said. He then started eating his sandwich.

"Hey, Takato...it's been 3 years since, uh, we beat the D-Reaper...and then, uh, our Digimon went back to the Digital World...do you ever still think what happened to Guilmon?" Henry asked quietly.

"I haven't given it much thought, really. I stopped going through that portal I found about a year ago." Takato replied. He put his head down on the table. "I still try to keep in contact with Guilmon though, but I think he's landed some role in a movie over there...last time I talked to him, he said he was working for Digimon Studios."

"How about you? Thinking of pursuing an acting career?" Henry asked.

"Er..." Takato began, "no. I seem to be allergic to cameras. Remember during the Christmas play? I was s'posed to sing "O Come All Ye Faithful" but then I realized they were taping us--"

"--And your voice cracked." Henry finished his sentence for him. "Yeah, I remember. Ms. Asaji was ready to explode if it hadn't been for Kazu and Kent..." Henry paused.

"Yeah...do you think they'll ever be friends again?" Takato asked.

"I hope." Henry replied.

When Takato had finished his lunch a couple of minutes later. He got up and put the plastic wrap in a garbage container.

"I'm going to go wash my hands." Takato told Henry. "Where are you off to?"

"The library, I guess...er, where is it, anyway?" Henry asked.

"Oh, just go to the third floor and take a left. You can't miss it." Takato replied.

"Thanks." Said Henry.

Takato walked down the hallway until he found the boy's bathroom. He went inside...that was weird, the bathroom was totally empty...(meaning no other people.)

"This place was usually full of people." Takato muttered to himself.

He quietly walked inside and walked over to the nearest sink. He turned on the tap and began to rinse his hands. He looked into the mirror and noticed something, his tie was loosened and the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned.

"What the--?" he said quietly.

Takato turned the tap off and quickly dried his hands. He noticed something odd about the figure in the mirror. It was him, but it didn't do what he was doing...plus, the mirror image also had an odd evil-ish stare; nothing like how Takato would stare when he did. It was kind of like, the mirror image was a totally different person.

"This...isn't normal." Takato muttered again.

"You're damn right it isn't." The Mirror Takato replied.

Takato then proceeded to move his arms up and down and see if the mirror image would do what he did. But instead, his mirror simply stood there...and yawned.

"Don't you have anything better to do? I mean...why waste your time flapping your arms up and down like your some fucking penguin trying to fly?!" Mirror Takato asked.

"That's definitely not me..." Takato said, starting to sound slightly frightened.

"Of course it ain't, gogglehead! It's me!" Mirror Takato replied.

The mirror then started to glow with a reddish light.

"Okay, this is some scary stuff!" Takato explained.

"Yeah...like the X-Files or the Outer Limits!" Mirror Takato replied, cackling. "Exciting, ain't it?"

The average person would've run away by now, but Takato, being so extremely curious that curiosity almost caused his death a couple of times stood where he was standing...staring at the glowing mirror.

"I'm thinking more like "Beyond Belief: Fact of Fiction" scary!" Takato said, still standing there, petrified.

"Oh..._THAT_ show! That was boring! Jonathan Frakes is a sissy! He's some damn Greenpeace activist or whatever you call it where I come from...trying to save the whales and mongooses!" Mirror Takato laughed.

"Uhh..." Takato began, but he couldn't get himself to finish his sentence.

The mirror suddenly let out a flash of white light, and about a second later, Takato found himself standing face-to-face with his mirror self.

"Uhh...uhh..." Takato began, "er, nice to...meet...you?"

"Yeah sure it is! You look like you've just seen a ghost!" Mirror Takato replied, shaking Takato's hand hard.

"Um...maybe...I have." Takato said, his voice quavering slightly.

"Uh-huh...sure. Oh, by the way, I have a little present for you, my _friend..._" Mirror Takato said, still sounding like he was plotting something evil.

"W-w-what's that?" Takato asked. He thought to himself, how can any present coming from an evil alternate-universe version of me be something good?

"I know what you're thinking." Mirror Takato said as he circled Takato. "You're thinking that because I'm from an 'evil alternate-universe,' my present surely can't be good, huh?"

"You're also a telepath?" Takato asked.

"I _AM_ you! Remember? Only...I've got a more sophisticated mind...plus, I'm more funny and outgoing than you will _ever_ be!" Mirror Takato replied, his voice growing louder.

"Um, okay...okay...there's gotta be a perfectly logical explanation to all this." Takato told himself quietly.

"There IS NO logic in the paranormal!" Mirror Takato yelled.

"I must be hallucinating...yeah, that's it, I'm--"

"NOT HALLUCINATING!"

"I'm just hallucinating!!!!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!"

"YES I AM"

"I'M FOR REAL, YOU DIMWIT!"

"NO YOU'RE--"

"See you later..."

"Whaa? Come back here!"

But when Takato looked around for Mirror Takato, he was already gone.

The door suddenly swung open.

Takato walked over to where the door was, and bumped into Kazu.

"Gee chumley, a simple sorry would've been nice!" Kazu snapped as he pushed Takato aside and walked into the bathroom.

As Takato walked out the door, he muttered to himself. "I was just hallucinating...too much sugar and ice cream made me hallucinate. Yeah, that's it...too much sugar and ice cream."

"It ain't sugar and ice cream." A voice whispered in Takato's ear.

Takato spun around, and there he was, Mirror Takato...

"It ain't sugar and ice cream...believe me." Mirror Takato repeated and vanished in a flash of white light. 

Takato blinked and made his way to the library, repeating the same "I was just hallucinating" thing over and over again.

***

Later that afternoon, Takato met up with Henry at the front entrance of the school. The two of them then started to walk to the park.

"Henry, you're never gonna believe this." Takato told his friend.

"Never gonna believe what?" Henry asked, eager to hear what Takato had to say.

"Have you ever believed in alternate universes?" Takato asked.

"Uh, well...I guess you can classify the Digital World as an alternate universe." Henry replied.

"I had a hard time believing it too, but I think I actually met my alternate universe self in the bathroom...and he came out of a mirror and--"

"Whoa, whoa," Henry said, "let me get this straight. _You_ saw your alternate universe self in the bathroom mirror and then he..."

"Came out of the mirror." Takato continued. "I don't know why he came to visit me...it was weird."

"Well, I know, a lot of weird stuff's happened to you since I've known you. Don't foget all the stuff's that happened in the Digital World." Said Henry.

"Yeah, but...nothing really happened to me in the real world." Takato replied.

"Uh, Takato, don't you remember the time in elementary school when we did another play? Your stage fright summoned the spirits of two dead people who helped you remember your lines?" Henry asked.

"Humphrey Bogart and, uh...uh...William Shakespeare...I don't know what they were doing in Japan." Said Takato.

"And don't forget the time your forehead started hurting after you read the fourth Harry Potter book." Henry reminded him.

"And I thought I was Voldemort's next victim?" Takato said, starting to recall the event, "but it turned out that I shouldn't have been eating ice cream while reading."

"Face it Takato, you're a magnet for paranormal activity. Just hope the FBI don't find out about you." Henry said.

Soon, the two reached the park, found a bench, and sat down.

"So, um, can I talk to you abou--"

Takato was interrupted by the sudden beeping of his Digivice (or whatever they call it in Tamers.)

"I haven't heard that thing beep in years." Takato said, surprised. "I'm surprised I still carry it around."

"What do you see on it?" Henry asked.

"It's...Guilmon." Takato replied quietly.


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